Hurry Up and Wait

We received our Referral Approval on May 21, 2009. This document is the official paperwork, giving us permission to adopt our child. After all this paperwork, the document literally said, “ you are kindly requested to make your decision, sign in the proper place below, and deliver this letter as soon as possible to the adoption organization which submitted your application file.” As if there was a decision to be made!

We signed and returned the document immediately. Tom and I became so excited; we immediately signed the paperwork and returned it to the adoption agency without checking off, “we accept.” This is why we paid for the expertise of the adoption agency. Our coordinator advised us, the appropriate box was checked. If anyone knows me well, it is obvious that I have gone from fumbling and disorganized as a late teen to hyper anal retentive about completing things correctly. Tom can accurately describe me as off my rocker when I found out the proper box was not checked.

What happens next?

We are waiting for our Travel Approval. This document is issued from the Chinese government and gives us permission to travel to the country. We are told this takes somewhere between 2-4 weeks. Then, 3-5 days after receiving our travel approval, we receive our dates of travel. It is so exciting yet bizarre. Exciting to think about our daughter and becoming a parent for the second time but honestly bizarre to think about this from our daughter’s standpoint.

When the Chinese government has issued our Travel Approval, our adoption agency will set our Consulate Appointment. This is dealing with her immigration paperwork and with the United States consulate in Guangzhou. A quick geography lesson: Guangzhou is on the southeast side of China. This all occurs during the last leg of our trip. All our travel dates are counted backward from the Consulate Appointment, to arrive at our departure times and travel in Beijing and our daughter’s province, leading up to the consulate appointment.

This excitement has not hampered my ability to relax or sleep. It has had quite the opposite effect. Tom and I are sleeping soundly for the first time in 3 years. On our camping adventure last week, Eli received the rare treat of staying up past his bed time which allowed all of us to sleep to a whopping 8:30am!